FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a docking station 10. Docking station 10 houses actuating lever 14, electrical contacts 21, and base portion 21. End mounting guides 16 and center mounting guide 18 are disposed upon base portion 12 along its frontal edge. A portable computer, having mount openings along the rear edge of its bottom surface, is placed for docking upon base portion 12; enjoining the mount openings with mounting guides 16 and 18. FIG. 2 is a prior art diagram station 10 has latching apparatus 11 pivotally connected to both the base portion 12 and actuating lever 14 by pivot connections 13 and 19, respectively. As force is applied in a generally downward sense to lever 14, connection 19 causes apparatus 11 to laterally draw base portion 12 into docking station 10 via pivot 13, as indicated by motion line 5. As base portion 12 slides into docking station 10, a portable computer, disposed upon guides 16 and 18 of the base portion 12, is brought into electrical contact with docking station 10 by electrical contacts 21.
In prior art FIG. 2, apparatus 11 forms an initial rest angle .theta. with base portion 12 when lever 14 is in an "open" or "undocked" position. Initial rest angle .theta. is greater than 45 degrees. As a downward force (F) is exerted upon lever 14, a force (labelled "A") is exerted upon the pivot connection 13. As is well known, force A can be separated into "X" and "Y" component forces, A.sub.x and A.sub.y. As is also well known, the vertical component force, A.sub.y, exerts a downward force and plays no role in moving base portion 12 laterally. The lateral component force, A.sub.x, exerts a lateral force as is shown in FIG. 2. In order for base portion 12 to move in the "X" direction, the lateral force A.sub.x must be greater than the opposing frictional force F.sub.friction as shown in FIG. 2. As is well known in physics, the frictional force F.sub.friction is .mu.N, where .mu. is the coefficient of friction and N is the normal force N, which equals the vertical force A.sub.Y being exerted on pivot connection 13.
Because .theta. is greater than 45 degrees at its rest position, the force (F) on lever 14 has a large vertical component A.sub.Y, thereby resulting in a large normal force N. This large normal force N undesirably increased the frictional force F.sub.friction and resulted in base portion 12 not easily moving laterally. As a user exerts greater force on lever 14 the vertical component force A.sub.Y increases, thereby exacerbating the problem. This binding problem of latching apparatus 11 results in poor performance when mating a portable computer to docking station 10.
Another problem with prior latching apparatus 11 is that upon mating a portable computer to docking station 10, no mechanical mechanism or detent exists to lock latching apparatus 11 in place, thereby ensuring that the portable computer and docking station 10 maintain their positional relationship until a user wishes to "unlock" the portable computer from docking station 10.
It is an object of this invention to provide a latching apparatus that eliminates the binding problem of prior art latching apparatus 11. It is another object of the invention to provide a latching apparatus and attachment system that effectively locks a portable computer and a docking station together, thereby maintaining a desirable physical relationship between the two until a user wishes to separate them.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification and drawings.